


My Brother's Keeper

by gwaevalarin



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, anti-Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:47:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1295428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwaevalarin/pseuds/gwaevalarin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a prompt on Tumblr: "Can you please write something involving one of the angels preferably Balthazar ripping a new one on Dean because of his treatment of Cas." (Set during season 7, after the Winchesters leave Cas with Meg.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Brother's Keeper

"Dean Winchester. Just who I was looking for."

Dean turned around back down the small alley, to watch a figure half step out of the shadows. It took him a moment to connect voice with vessel and recognize the angel before him.

"Balthazar," he said.

"The one and only."

The angel took another step forward, now clearly visible in the moonlight and the look in his storm grey eyes almost made Dean take a step back but he forced himself to stand his ground.

"What do you want?"

Balthazar slightly tilted his head, a humorless smile playing on his lips.

"Oh, just talk," he said almost casually and two glasses appeared in his hand. "Drink?"

Dean looked at the glasses suspiciously.

"Not then," said Balthazar and placed them on a dumpster before he took a few more steps.  
This time Dean did take a step back and found his back against a wall.

"How are you even alive?" he asked while his mind worked on an escape route. There wasn’t one.

"That’s actually a very interesting story but really not the topic right now."

For a moment Balthazar just looked at Dean, like he expected him to say something. When Dean stayed quiet, the angel continued.

"I found my brother."

Still no reply from Dean.

"You know, dark hair, piercing blue eyes, goes by the name of Castiel. You might remember him?"

"What do you want, Balthazar?" Dean asked again, more impatiently this time.

"When I found Cas," Balthazar continued, "he was trapped in his own vessel’s mind, his grace infused with so much fear and pain I could hardly sense it because it had almost collapsed into itself. Fortunately…" he pointedly let that word hang in the air for a moment. "I found a very helpful young demon there who was able to tell me what had happened while I was just a tad occupied being dead."

"Meg," Dean said.

"Yes, I do believe that was her name."

"Did you kill her?" Dean asked, but without real interest.

"Actually, we came to a nice little agreement, where she got to run back home to Hell or wherever good little demons run these days, in exchange for bringing me up to date. She was smart enough to consider that a fair offer."

"So she hasn’t hurt him." It was mostly a statement but with a hint of a question.

"Oh, so that possibility _did_ cross your mind.”

"Did she?" A clear question this time.

"If she had, you’d be looking for your head in one of these dumpsters right now." Balthazar gestured vaguely behind himself but never took his eyes off the hunter. "Luckily for you, she apparently felt he was worth more to her unharmed. Or well, as unharmed as was still possible."

"Then what do you want, Balthazar?" Dean asked for the third time, now clearly angry - or was it afraid.

"You left my brother, who you dare call your friend, with a demon. While he was utterly helpless." Balthazar’s voice was raised now too, pretend casual tone gone completely.

"A demon who, as you just told me, looked after him exactly like she was supposed to," Dean pointed out.

"Yes, good thing demons are so trustworthy, so you could know she wouldn’t harm him when you abandoned him, after he had just saved your brother by taking said brother’s hell onto himself."

"He was the one who broke Sam’s wall in the first place." Dean took a step forward, almost like he meant to physically attack the angel before him, but thought better of it when Balthazar glared at him, his eyes a storm of celestial rage.

"So it’s all his own fault." Balthazar’s voice had dropped to a growl. "Does it make things easier, blaming him? No matter that your brother’s wall was already crumbling, that it didn’t take more than a butterfly’s beating its wings to bring it down, that you were the one to shove his soul back in when everyone warned you against it, that…"

"That’s not the point," Dean interrupted.

Balthazar huffed out a laugh. “You’re right. It’s not.”

Then, in reply to Dean’s surprised look: “Let me tell you what the point is: Castiel was fighting a civil war. A war that forced him to kill his own brothers and sisters. A war against an archangel who should have been able to annihilate him with little more than a flare of Grace. But he stood his ground. He fought with his back against the wall. He was forced to make impossible decisions just to make it through to the next day, just so he could continue the fight. And all of that to save not only Heaven but just as much YOUR world, your precious little planet with all its precious little people.”

"Yes, thank you, I was there."

"Oh, were you now? Funny, I don’t remember you on the battlefield. But maybe I was just too busy wading through the blood of my own family."

Dean held the angel’s gaze but didn’t reply so Balthazar continued.

"What I do remember, however, is you calling him over and over again to aid you in your stupid little problems."

"My brother didn’t have a soul!"

"Ah, yes, your brother. More important than the universe itself."

"He… Cas was the one who had brought him back soulless. It was his mess to fix!"

"Of course. Let’s blame the angel for trying to save your brother instead of just letting him rot in the deepest pits of Hell. Makes perfect sense."

"You do not understand!"

"I think I understand just fine. I understand how you call him your friend when you need him. I understand how he is a nifty little tool for you to use and then throw aside. But not anymore."

Dean clenched his fists and for a moment angel and hunter just stared at each other.

"Where is he now?" Dean asked.

"Safe," Balthazar replied. "And out of your reach. I left him with one of our brothers when I went to find you."

"You left him with another angel?" Balthazar thought he could hear a hint of disgust in Dean’s voice but decided to ignore it. "Because that’s safer than leaving him with a demon, after he played God and, from what I hear, killed quite a bunch of you guys?"

Balthazar gritted his teeth, trying not to give Dean the satisfaction of seeing how much pain it caused him to be reminded of all he had learned about Castiel’s time as God. He had to take a deep breath to calm his vessel and keep his voice even.

"He is with an angel from our old garrison, and if you ever got to know him - not that you’d care - even you wouldn’t doubt that Inias has Cassie’s best interest at heart."

Dean crossed his arms. “Fine. So he’s safe. Thanks for the update. Is there anything else? Are you waiting for an apology or something?”

Balthazar shook his head, almost amused. “You say that like it would have any worth coming from you.”

Dean opened his mouth to protest but Balthazar silenced him with a simple wave of his hand.

"I’m just here to offer you the same deal I made with your little demon: Run and, in your case, feel free to choke on your self-righteousness. But if you ever cross my path again, if I ever hear as much as rumors that you ask even the tiniest favour of my brother and pretend like he owes you anything, I will find you, and you will wish that smiting you in a dark alley was the end of my creativity. Not that I haven’t considered doing just that. I hope I have made myself very clear."

And with that, before Dean could even think of a reply, Balthazar was gone and Dean was left staring at the moonlit space where the angel had been a moment ago.


End file.
